Industrial and hand cleansing formulations typically contain a surfactant that solubilizes or emulsifies the oils, debris, and soil present on a substrate. These formulations inherently have oil-cleansing limitations when oil-emulsifiability or solvency alone is used as a cleaning mechanism. When only surfactants in combination with non-aggressive solvent cleansers are used in the cleansing compositions, the cleaning power of the composition may be inadequate when stubborn or embedded oils are present. If the chemical formula is too aggressive in terms of its solubilizing or emulsifying power, skin can be harmed due to defatting of the dermal oils thereof, particularly when the cleanser is used repeatedly.
Many cleansing formulations that are currently available in the marketplace also contain abrasive particulates that mildly scour the skin surface to aid in the removal of embedded oils, debris and soil. Some examples of the abrasive particulates utilized are pumice, silica, and diatomaceous earth. These formulations can be of a “waterless” nature, a term indicating that water does not have to be added during the hand cleansing process. However, because this abrasive particulate is generally insoluble, it must be flushed away with water after the cleansing process to achieve residue-free hands, i.e., free of the fine abrasive particulate that would remain on the skin if not rinsed away.
After cleansing and rinsing, hands are often dried with a towel or cloth instead of air drying for purposes such as speed and convenience, as well as to aid in mechanically removing any stubborn soils that remain on the skin.
Nonabrasive waterless hand cleansers that are currently commercially available have a gelatinous or paste-like high viscosity consistency. These cleansers often have both polar and nonpolar ingredients that are blended together to achieve removal of a wide variety of soils from the surface of the skin. The gelatinous surfactant that affords this type of waterless cleanser its gelatinous form also acts as a substrate to essentially permanently bind the emulsion of cleansing ingredients together. This gelatinous consistency has been essential for waterless hand cleansers in order for them to achieve the continuous cleansing action necessary for the desired cleaning effectiveness due to extended contact between the cleanser and the skin, as the user can work and rework the cleanser on the skin in order to fully solubilize the oils and debris until they are removed from the skin surface. If the cleanser were liquid instead of gelatinous, the necessary continuous cleansing action associated with waterless hand cleansers would not be achieved because the extended contact between the cleanser and the skin is not achieved. The lower viscosity of a liquid cleanser can also cause the cleanser to run off of the hands, thereby facilitating the potential waste of cleanser. Thus, the gelatinous or high viscosity nature of waterless hand cleansers has several advantages in comparison to liquid cleansers. Additionally, these hand cleanser formulations typically contain one or more antibacterial compounds. These compounds simultaneously provide in-package resistance to bacterial buildup and a degree of hand “sanitization” when they are used.
Human health is impacted by many microbial entities. Inoculation by viruses and bacteria cause a wide variety of sicknesses and ailments. Topical antimicrobial infections are well known causes of food poisoning, dysentery, and other serious illnesses.
It is well known that the washing of hard surfaces, food (e.g. fruit or vegetables) and skin, especially the hands, with antimicrobial or non-medicated soap, can remove many viruses and bacteria from the washed surfaces. Removal of the viruses and bacteria is due to the surfactancy of the soap and the mechanical action of the wash procedure. Therefore, it is known and recommended that people wash frequently to reduce the spread of viruses and bacteria.
Antibacterial cleansing products have been marketed in a variety of forms for some time. Forms include antibacterial soaps, hard surface cleaners, and surgical disinfectants. Rinse-off antimicrobial soaps have been formulated to provide bacteria removal during washing. Such conventional antibacterial cleansing products have been shown to also provide a residual effectiveness against some common gram-positive bacteria. Antimicrobial active agents are deposited on the washed surface during the washing process. The residual active ingredient controls the viability and growth of some surviving and some newly contacted transient bacteria. For example, antibacterial soap, when used regularly in hand washing, has been found to provide a 90% to 97% reduction in gram-positive bacteria after two to five hours. Unfortunately, there are concerns that typical topical antibacterial agents such as pyrithiones, thiazolones, sulfites, diazo compounds, chlorinated organics, brominated organics, phenols, bisphenols, resourcinols, and alkylated parabens lead to antibiotic resistance.
Antimicrobial liquid cleansers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,072, Bissett et al., issued Jul. 11, 1989; U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,284, Degenhardt, issued Jul. 3, 1990; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,698, Degenhardt, issued Apr. 11, 1989, all patents being incorporated herein by reference.
Wild oregano is an oil rich plant. Each oregano leaf contains hundreds of oil glands. Oil of oregano is rich in a variety of natural compounds. The primary constituent of this oil is polyphenolic flavonoids. Of these, carvacrol and thymol are potent natural antiseptics. In fact carvacol and thymol work together with synergistic effect. The efficacy of carvacol and thymol in natural oil is more potent than synthetic types—probably due to the fact that synthesis so far has been unable to exactly recreate carvacol. Although the antimicrobial activity of carvacol and thymol is known and are the primary active ingredients, natural oil of oregano contains more than thirty compounds and synthetic reproduction of all these active compounds is problematic.
The following list details known compounds found in oil of oregano:
alpha-pinenelinalyl acetateCampheneBeta-bisabolene6-methyl-3-heptanolcarvacrolcalemenep-cimene-8-olbeta-caryophyllenecineolephellandrenecis-dihydrocarvonecis-sabinene hydratesabinenecymenedecanegamma-terpinenegermacrene Dcarvacrol acetateterpinolenehexanallimonenetrans-dihydrocarvonelinaloolmethylcarvacrolp-cimeneMyrcenebeta-pineneSpartholerolterpinen-4-olThymolUndecane
Oregano oil has been tested against a variety of microorganisms and is found to exert a high degree of anti-fungal, anti-parasitic, anti-viral and antibacterial actions. In addition to containing essential oils, oregano is a rich source of a variety of vitamins and minerals, and is especially rich in vitamin C. Oregano contains large amounts of chlorophyll, itself a natural antiseptic. Numerous research reports prove that oregano is highly effective for killing a wide range of fungi, yeast and bacteria as well as parasites and viruses.
Oil of oregano is a natural antiseptic that possesses a wide range of microbial killing powers. Unlike synthetic antibiotics there is no known tendency for development of microbial resistance to oil of oregano. Oil of oregano has demonstrated ability to kill or inhibit growth of virtually any fungus as well as inhibiting growth of many pathogenic bacteria.
While some natural plant oils have been known since antiquity to have curative properties, the topical and oral benefits of natural plant oils has more recently been attributed to antimicrobial properties. Of the natural essential oils, oregano oil has been used as a reference for the comparison of the bactericidal action of other substances owing to its near ideal antibacterial properties. P. Belaiche, “Traité de Phylothérapie et d'aromathérapie”, Vol. 1 S. A. Maloine, editor, 1979. In the case of wild oregano oil, one part per 4,000 is sufficient to sterilize contaminated water and owing to the complex mixture of antimicrobial compounds found therein, the evolution of organism resistance is considered far less likely than with single compound synthetic antimicrobials. Perhaps owing to the ill defined composition of natural essential plant oils, these oils have failed to find their way into industrial cleaning solutions and gels. Thus, there exists a need for an industrial cleaning formulation containing a broad antimicrobial spectrum natural essential plant oil.